Maharashtra

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT MAHARASHTRA - PAGE 2

MUMBAI: The Congress-NCP led ministry in Maharashtra will be expanded here tomorrow, official sources said today. The swearing-in is scheduled at 10 AM at Raj Bhavan. The expansion comes after a meeting Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan held with Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi, in the wake of the drubbing the ruling alliance suffered in the Lok Sabha polls . Chavan was sent from Delhi to take over reigns of the state in 2010. The poll results saw Congress getting its lowest tally of just two of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

BJP storms 15 bastions (11 of Congress, 3 of Sena and one of PWP). In Umred it won with a margin of 58,322. NCP storms 3 bastions. In Pusad it won with a margin of 65,359. SHS Storms 2 bastions. Margin of victory is just 710 in Karvir.

MUMBAI: Volkswagen AG, the German auto major, is planning to set up a separate manufacturing facility in Maharashtra, while its Czech arm, Skoda, is planning to create an export hub in the state for its markets spread over south-east Asia. The two European automobile giants presented their plans to Maharashtra chief minister Sushil Kumar Shinde in Mumbai on Monday. Lutz Wagner, director, sales and marketing, Asia-Pacific, Volkswagen AG, along with Helmut Schuster, board member, Skoda Auto, and Ashok Jain, chief advisor, Volkswagen, attended the meeting.

NEW DELHI: Investment climate of Maharashtra appears to be the most favourable, attracting the highest number of investment proposals during the month of January 2002, as per the latest data compiled by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. Of the total of 299 Industrial Entrepreneurs Memoranda (IEMs) either for new units, new articles or for substantial expansion, filed during January 2002, 71 were for Maharashtra with a proposed investment of Rs 597 crore followed by Gujarat with 33 cases with a proposed investment of Rs 1144 crore.

Finance minister P Chidambaram must be congratulated on rejecting the Maharashtra government's proposal for a structural adjustment loan from the World Bank. The record of SALs from the Bank to states is very spotty. Many states have made insincere pledges to reform, and then reneged after getting aid. Maharashtra, once a fiscal tower of strength, sank into fiscal decrepitude after the Shiv Sena came to power in the mid-1990s, and has floundered ever since. Denying a SAL to the state means denying money to the finance minister's own party colleagues who rule the state.

NEW DELHI: Over 70 per cent of the Foreign Direct Investment proposals cleared by the government have gone to Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, Assocham said on Wednesday. "Maharashtra attracted the highest 600 out of the total 2,114 proposals approved by the government during April 2001 and February 2002," Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry said in a release on Wednesday. Delhi bagged 361 proposals, Karnataka 288 while Tamil Nadu attracted 277 FDI proposals, the release said adding other states were able to attract only 588 projects worth Rs 10,808 crore.

N DELHI: Arena Animation has been conferred with the Maharashtra IT Award 2007, by the Government of Maharashtra, for its contribution to Animation and IT in Maharashtra. R Krishnan, Executive Director, Aptech Ltd & Global Head, Arena Animation received the award at a ceremony in Mumbai, from the Maharashtra Chief Minister Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh. Says Mr Krishnan, "We are honored to receive this award from the state government as a recognition of our efforts in providing Animation & IT Training.

MUMBAI: Industrial activity in Maharashtra is limping back to normalcy after MSEB removed restrictions on power supply to industry. Maharashtra has been facing a severe energy crisis since May 17 when 10 electricity transmission towers were uprooted in the Parbhani. As a result, board announced a tight load shedding schedule which badly affected industries. Industries were asked to shut their units throughout day and only one shift from midnight to seven am was allowed.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has rapped the Maharashtra government on the violence in Mumbai against non-Maharashtrians and conveyed the "sense of the cabinet" on the need to control this. "The prime minister informed the cabinet that he had written a strongly-worded letter to the Maharashtra chief minister and that he would convey the sense of the cabinet to the Maharashtra government," fi-nance minister P Chidambaram said on Friday. "The home minister was asked to take necessary steps (to restore normalcy)

NEW DELHI: Poll-bound Maharashtra is procuring electricity aggressively. The state's power distribution firms, that were absent from the spot electricity market last year, have emerged as largest procurers this year. According to industry sources, Maharashtra's distribution firms accounted for one third of the turnover on the Indian Energy Exchange platform that recorded its highest trade volume of 125 million units on Monday. "This year, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company procured close to 190 million units of electricity during the first eight days of October, and its demand is on the rise.